Palaniuk Sticks 21-12 To Close Out Rayburn Win

By BassFan Staff

Brandon Palaniuk admits he came back to east Texas last week with a little more confidence than usual. He’d finished 5th at neighboring Toledo Bend last month and had developed some ideas for the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest during a scouting trip to Sam Rayburn Reservoir in the days following that event.

After a practice session during which pretty much everything he did worked, Palaniuk kept the momentum going during the tournament, which featured a catch-weigh-release format. Carrying a negligible 2-ounce lead into the final day, Palaniuk tallied his smallest limit of the week with 21-12, but a 5-15 kicker with about 25 minutes left clinched the win for the Idaho native.

Palaniuk’s 93-12 total was 2 pounds better than Brent Ehrler, who led after days 1 and 2, but failed to crack the 20-pound mark for the first time today. His 19-14 also included a late-afternoon 6-pounder, which came minutes before Palaniuk’s difference-maker.

Palaniuk becomes the ninth angler to win at least three full-field Elite Series events and at 29, he’s the youngest to reach the milestone.

“It’s unbelievable,” Palaniuk said. “I literally won with that fish at 2:36 p.m.”

For Ehrler, it’s another dose of heartache in the Lone Star State this year. It was eight weeks ago today that he held the lead going into the final day of the Bassmaster Classic at Lake Conroe, only to see Jordan Lee rally from more than 13 pounds back to win in improbable fashion. While there was no such rally from back in the pack today (ironically, Lee surged five more spots today to finish 4th), Ehrler was unable to gain any separation from Palaniuk.

The runner-up finish is Ehrler’s best in a full-field Elite Series tournament (he also took 2nd in the 50-man AOY event at Mille Lacs Lake last fall). Ehrler’s consolation comes in the form of a new Toyota Tundra for catching the event’s biggest bass, a 9-01 brute that anchored his day-1 limit.

Jacob Wheeler’s 22-12 effort today was the best among the 12 finalists and moved him up one spot to 3rd with 83-15. Lee’s 20-07 gave him 77-07 in 4th while Hank Cherry wound up 5th after tallying 15-10, which pushed his total to 77-06.

Here's how the balance of the 12 finalists finished up:

6. Greg Vinson: 76-10
7. Jason Christie: 74-14
8. Alton Jones Jr.: 74-09
9. Cliff Crochet: 74-00
10. Kelley Jaye: 71-08
11. Gerald Swindle: 69-15
12. Jason Williamson: 63-08

Many of the competitors raved about the format of the event and not having to worry about fish care or culling put their minds at ease and allowed them to focus more on fishing. It remains to be seen how often B.A.S.S. utilizes the format moving forward in full-field points tournaments.

The fishing was generally tougher today, possibly as a result of a change in wind direction and in the wake of some stormy weather Saturday. Five of the finalists brought in 21-inch fish to show off on stage and Lee had the biggest of the day with a 7-14.

With the bass at Rayburn in their post-spawn transition phase, almost any tactic or technique could produce 2- to 3-pounders anywhere on the lake. The wind was again an issue today, but shallow and mid-range hydrilla along with deep brush and standing timber were big producers this week, as were shallow bushes for flippers and haygrass for froggers like Jason Christie, who leaves Texas with a 30-plus point lead in the Angler of the Year standings.

The schedule resumes in two weeks at Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas, site of Christie’s most recent win in 2014.

Palaniuk Narrowed His Playing Field

> Day 4: 5, 21-12 (20, 93-12)

Rather than burn time running around the lake with a potential win hanging in the balance, Palaniuk opted to spend today in what he thought was his most productive area. The fishing wasn’t near as good as it had been the first three days, but a late flurry that included his 6-pound kicker reassured him that he’d made the right call.

“I had the intentions of running and cycling through more areas, but the weatherman said light and variable wind from the north,” he said. “They were more variable than light, so I hunkered down in one area where I felt like I had enough areas to fish. I made a milk run and fished the best stuff in that area and focused on that. I kept going through that and picked one off here and there, but I wasn’t getting any big bites.”

His biggest fish early on was a 4-02 and came off the spot that had produced most of his big fish of the week. He thought he was on his way to a banner day, but most everything else he caught there was on the small side. Each day of practice and over the first three days of the event, he encountered 6- and 7-pounders on a daily basis.

“My shallow stuff wasn’t happening,” he said. “Things just felt different. It was a lot tougher.”

He eventually filled out his limit shallow, then circled back to his deeper spots, where fish were holding to brush piles and suspending along standing timber.

“At the end of the day, I found a new brush pile and started to idle around it around 2 o’clock,” he said. “It looked like there were a few fish on it. I swung back around and got lined up with my (Humminbird) 360 and caught a 3, a 3-plus, a 2-something, then the 5-15.

“The crazy thing was this was the toughest day as far as bites and grinding it out, but by far the best day of execution. I never lost any that I hooked and fought.”

A Texas-rigged Zoom Ole Monster worm and a Neko-rigged Zoom Magnum Trick Worm were his key baits for the deep-water (18 to 30 feet) fish while his shallow-water producer was a Strom Arashi Top Walker, which he threw near an underwater bluff in the mornings.

“I love winning, but at the same time beating your buddies is still bittersweet for me,” he said. “Brent is one of the best guys on tour so it eases the pain that he still won the truck.”

Additional details of Palaniuk’s and the other top finishers’ patterns will be published soon.

2nd: Sun Keyed Ehrler’s Late Surge

> Day 4: 5, 19-14 (20, 91-12)

These close calls with victories are starting to wear on Ehrler, but he comes out of the week having gained 16 spots in the AOY points after missing the money cut at Ross Barnett Reservoir three weeks ago.

“I’m fine with it,” he said. “I fished well this week. I had no major mess-ups. It was crazy to catch a 9 and get it in the boat. I’m happy about that. Brandon caught them real well and deserved to win.”

In hindsight, he wishes he would’ve spent the balance of his time Friday probing a deeper area near the launch. When he stopped there on his way to check-in, he caught a 6-pounder, but he pulled off of it because he didn’t want others to see what he was doing or where.

“The conditions were perfect and they were biting,” he said. “I planned to spend a bunch of time there (today). I’d hopefully catch them shallow and then go out deep. Well, I couldn’t fish there because it was too rough. I could’ve fished there another 45 minutes Friday, but I didn’t.”

After a mostly pedestrian day, he caught all of the fish that mattered on his scoresheet in the last hour today. The timing coincided with the sun finally breaking through.

“I went out deep around 12:15 and spent 45 minutes trying to do that,” he said. “I couldn’t fish it, but I had a small creek where I could catch them. I go in there and the sun popped out. I didn’t move the boat and caught a 4 and two 3s and a 2 3/4. They were biting like crazy. I only had time to hit one more spot and I catch a 6. Every one I caught had (the bait) down their throats.”

His key producers this week were a Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 127 jerkbait and an EverGreen/Z-Man Jack Hammer Chatterbait with a Yamamato Zako swimbait trailer. Both were fished around edges of hydrilla clumps near drains or on points.

3rd: Wheeler Went Flipping After Early Lull

> Day 4: 5, 22-12 (20, 83-15)

Wheeler had a hunch pretty quick today that things weren’t going to progress as they had on previous days. His early morning topwater spot didn’t fire and the fish he caught out deep weren’t going to help him much, so he opted to stick with flipping bushes like he had most of the tournament.

“I started on the place I’d started every day and that was my gauge,” he said. “I’d always caught seven to 14 bass there each day. I only caught one there and I knew right off the bat that wasn’t good. I knew they weren’t biting good.”

After about 9 a.m., he committed to his flipping program and wound up with the biggest bag of the final day. It’s his third top-10 finish of the season and he’s now up to 3rd in the AOY points.

“It feels great,” he said. “When you get on a roll and things go right, you feel like you can’t do anything wrong. I have had a couple tough events, but I have made up for it.

“I’m keeping it simple this year and it makes it more special because I never felt like I was on anything. I didn’t feel like I had a chance to win. I lost by 10 pounds, but I did everything I possibly could.”

4th: Big One an Adventure for Lee

> Day 4: 5, 20-07 (20, 77-07)

There’s nothing Lee would’ve done differently this week if given the chance. He maximized his areas and, like he did at the Classic, zeroed in on a couple spots and milked them for what he could.

“I really made the best of it all,” he said. “Everything went right for me this week. I didn’t have an unbelievable practice. I idled around a lot early in practice and fished some, but in the tournament, I found two brush pile places and I probably weighed over half of my 20 fish off those two spots.”

He mixed in a hollow-body frog around some lily pads when he did fish shallow.

“I had an over (21-incher) every day and that was huge,” he added. “A lot of guys didn’t catch any big ones, but I caught a few of them. I probably caught the least amount of fish out of the top 12, but I got good bites every day and that boosted me up. Without some of those bites, I’d have finished much lower than where I did.”

His limit today was anchored by a 7-14 kicker, the biggest of the day, but landing the fish was quite the adventure. He was fishing around a brush pile with a Strike King Bullworm on a 3/4-ounce shaky-head when the fish bit.

“I set the hook on it and my reel pops off my rod,” he said. “I said, ‘That’s not good.’ The fish comes up and jumps and I see its head and see that it’s huge and I just know it’s going to come off.”

He kept his cool and somehow managed to get things under control despite the rod and reel being separated.

“Luckily, it came in pretty easy and I was able to make it work,” he said.

5th: Mostly Small Ones For Cherry

> Day 4: 5, 15-10 (20, 77-06)

This marked Cherry’s third career top-12 finish and it’s his best Elite Series finish since he placed 4th at West Point Lake during his rookie season in 2013.

If there were bonus points awarded for most fish caught this week, Cherry would’ve been in the running as he put on a jerkbait clinic around shallow and deeper grass.

By 7:15 this morning, he’d caught six keepers, but none weighed more than 2 pounds. Two minutes later, he landed a 5-14 and that served as the anchor for his limit today.

“I found out today, they bite better when the sun’s out,” he said on stage. “Catching fish was no issue. I just couldn’t get those bigger bites.”

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 12 limits.

> Jason Williamson went out in 7th place today, but wound up finishing 12th after taking a late penalty that dropped his weight down to 5-08. He said as he was leaving his final spot and heading to check-in, he hit a stump and that caused him to be late.

Final Results

1. Brandon Palaniuk -- Hayden, ID -- 20, 93-12 -- 110 -- $100,000
Day 1: 5, 24-07 -- Day 2: 5, 23-02 -- Day 3: 5, 24-07 -- Day 4: 5, 21-12

2. Brent Ehrler -- Newport Beach, CA -- 20, 91-12 -- 109 -- $34,500
Day 1: 5, 25-06 -- Day 2: 5, 22-05 -- Day 3: 5, 24-03 -- Day 4: 5, 19-14

3. Jacob Wheeler -- Indianapolis, IN -- 20, 83-15 -- 108 -- $30,000
Day 1: 5, 21-07 -- Day 2: 5, 23-07 -- Day 3: 5, 16-05 -- Day 4: 5, 22-12

4. Jordan Lee -- Grant, AL -- 20, 77-07 -- 107 -- $24,000
Day 1: 5, 22-10 -- Day 2: 5, 16-13 -- Day 3: 5, 17-09 -- Day 4: 5, 20-07

5. Hank Cherry Jr -- Lincolnton, NC -- 20, 77-06 -- 106 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 23-08 -- Day 2: 5, 18-11 -- Day 3: 5, 19-09 -- Day 4: 5, 15-10

6. Greg Vinson -- Wetumpka, AL -- 20, 76-10 -- 105 -- $16,000
Day 1: 5, 21-02 -- Day 2: 5, 21-15 -- Day 3: 5, 15-07 -- Day 4: 5, 18-02

7. Jason Christie -- Park Hill, OK -- 20, 74-14 -- 104 -- $17,000
Day 1: 5, 20-13 -- Day 2: 5, 18-05 -- Day 3: 5, 20-09 -- Day 4: 5, 15-03

8. Alton Jones Jr. -- Lorena, TX -- 20, 74-09 -- 103 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 13-07 -- Day 2: 5, 26-10 -- Day 3: 5, 17-01 -- Day 4: 5, 17-07

9. Cliff Crochet -- Pierre Part, LA -- 20, 74-00 -- 102 -- $13,500
Day 1: 5, 23-01 -- Day 2: 5, 18-14 -- Day 3: 5, 14-15 -- Day 4: 5, 17-02

10. Kelley Jaye -- Dadeville, AL -- 20, 71-08 -- 101 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 21-09 -- Day 2: 5, 18-08 -- Day 3: 5, 16-06 -- Day 4: 5, 15-01

11. Gerald Swindle -- Guntersville, AL -- 20, 69-15 -- 100 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 21-14 -- Day 2: 5, 17-13 -- Day 3: 5, 16-11 -- Day 4: 5, 13-09

12. Jason Williamson -- Wagener, SC -- 20, 63-08 -- 99 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 18-09 -- Day 2: 5, 23-15 -- Day 3: 5, 15-08 -- Day 4: 5, 5-08